Loudspeakers

One of the long-running tenets of hi-fi is ideas that appear at the top of a particular range will eventually make their way down to more terrestrial price points over time. Companies do this with varying degrees of success, but DALI’s latest attempt is notable because not only has technology from higher up the range made the trip, so has the name. The outgoing Rubicon series of speakers has been replaced with the Rubikore – reflecting an influx of thinking from the £85,000 range topper to a more sensible price point.

The new series comprises a pair of floorstanders – the standmount seen here – an LCR (a speaker engineered to be both a centre speaker and also operate as a stereo pair) and an on-wall speaker intended for surround and effects work. The Rubikore 2 is something of an oddity in the range as it is the only model to get by without DALI’s trademark combination of ribbon and dome tweeter, instead opting only for a dome tweeter – in part to maintain more elegant proportions.

The tweeter is a soft dome unit that is a clear evolution of what has gone before. DALI prioritises the reduction of mass over absolute stiffness and employing a fabric dome helps in this approach. The company has further reduced the mass by ensuring that the tweeter has enough passive cooling to not require ferrofluid, which does help keep the weight down.

It is the partnering mid/bass driver that sees more influence from the Kore. It is a 165mm mid/bass driver that DALI refers to as Clarity Cone made of its preferred wood fibre – something it has been doing for a very long time and that works very effectively. In this iteration, however, you can see a pattern on the cone itself – intended to increase stiffness and improve breakup behaviour. Behind the visible section of this driver, you’ll find DALI’s unique Soft Magnetic Compound. This is designed to ensure that the magnetic force is applied as the company wishes.

The driver is supported in its exertions by a rear bass port that employs a continuous flare along its length. This helps to keep the flow of air out of the port quieter as the diameter increases and the air accelerates allowing it to expand – something else borrowed directly from the Kore. It imbues the Rubikore 2 with a claimed lower frequency roll-off of 50Hz at +/- 3dB, which is pretty respectable for a speaker of this size. Sensitivity is quoted as 87dB/W, albeit it at a 4ohm impedance. In practise, I don’t find the speaker to be terribly hard to drive. The crossover between the two drivers is set at 2.8kHz and, rather unusually, it supports bi-wiring as well.

The cabinet that houses everything is a well-damped design that combines flat sides with a gently curved front panel that is repeated at the back too. The drivers sit in a keyhole-shaped baffle on the front panel, which breaks up the boxiness of the overall design. The review sample is supplied in White Gloss which, while not my favourite finish, looks fairly smart here. As well as the White, Gloss Black and two wood finishes are also available.

Build quality is entirely up to the standard you might expect at the price, with the only slightly discordant note being the grilles. Unusually for a speaker in 2024, these use physical lugs to attach to the front panel. While some of these employ existing screw holes, there is a prominent hole just above the tweeter that looks a little crude. There is also no dedicated stand, although the dimensions are conventional enough that many third-party designs will adequately fit the bill.

Sound quality
Parked on a pair of Custom Design stands, the Rubikore 2 impresses from the outset. With absolutely no toe-in applied – DALI is adamant it isn’t needed here – the performance is genuinely impressive. In both spaces I test the samples in, they comfortably better the 50Hz claimed lower frequency roll-off. The drum and bass-infused My House by London Grammar delivers weight that you feel as well as hear, but does so with impressive control and agility.

As bass becomes midrange, the DALI maintains its control and cohesion, and delivers a level of tonal realism that does justice to voices and instruments. I would hesitate to describe this as a warm-sounding speaker, but there is enough of a forgiving edge that the aggressively mastered Everything Must Go by Manic Street Preachers is reproduced in a way that leaves me wanting to keep listening rather than grimacing and nudging the volume down.

This is perhaps just as well because something the DALI demonstrates quite markedly is that it does its best work with a bit of volume behind it. Drop the level to more late night-friendly levels and it becomes rather less expansive and dynamic. This can affect most speakers to a greater or lesser extent, but the Rubikore 2 seems to have a fairly marked step in its performance that some similarly priced rivals don’t suffer from. There is also a perception that – even with a bit of level behind it – this is not the most expansive-sounding speaker going. It tends to sit information between the cabinets rather than extending beyond them. In fairness, it would be a stretch to call the result congested, though.

This also means that with well-recorded, smaller-scale music, the DALI is joyous in what it can do. Revisiting Chris Thile’s earlier work with Nickel Creek delivers a truly stunning performance with the debut album of the same name. The achingly lovely When You Come Back Down is presented with an effortlessness that transcends the playback hardware and lets you rejoice in a presentation that balances energy and refinement to spectacular effect. The violin solo in the track can sound a little bright on the end of quite a few speakers, but here it’s positively sumptuous.

There is also a level of joy to what the Rubikore 2 does that is hard not be beguiled by. The unapologetically ballistic Need Some Mo’ by Ko Ko Mo should be a track that encourages you to nod your head enthusiastically and engage at the best of times, but in the hands of the DALI, it’s absolutely irresistible. That ability to hit hard and balance this with just enough forgiveness and refinement to keep you winding the volume on is hugely addictive and will be enough to have many people plumping for the Rubikore 2 with this sort of material.

Conclusion
This is more than just a party speaker, though. So long as the Rubikore 2 isn’t being asked to run at very low levels, it delivers a performance that balances punch and refinement to truly excellent effect. There is certainly no shortage of rivals, but the infusion of trickle-down technology that the company has brought to the Rubikore 2 has resulted in an exceptionally talented standmount that should work extremely well in a variety of different systems. ES    

DETAILS
Product: DALI Rubikore 2
Type: Two-way standmount loudspeaker

FEATURES
● 29mm soft dome tweeter
● 165mm wood fibre mid/bass driver
● Quoted sensitivity: 87dB/1W/1m (4ohm)

Read the full review in  Issue 521